To kick off my new babywearing blog I will start with a review of the PaxBaby Mai Zoo.
I was selected to purchase a tester and received a cute froggy Mai Zoo to try out. It is a colder weather babywearing accessory, and I will say that it did add some warmth, though I am not sure it would work for anything below 45 degrees, as in you will need something else or in addition to the Mai Zoo in colder weather. But I have to say it is a very cute concept.
First a little about the Mai Zoo itself. It has three "settings" for the hood, which we left it on the largest setting. From the hood to the shortest part is about 21", and 27" from the hood to the longest part. Other measurements are detailed in the pictures:
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| Front |
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| Adjustable Hood |
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| Back |
I have a collection of carriers, with many being Mei Tais. So, I tested the the Mai Zoo out with my PiggySack, Wrapstar, Kozy, BBB WCMT, and also my Kinderpack (an SSC not a MT).
The test subject, aka Donut, specs: at testing time he was 17.5 month, but at 15.5 months he was 20.5lbs and 29" long. He does have short legs and a long torso.
First up is the PiggySack. This is probably the least known carrier that I have, but it one of my favorites and has really been a great carrier. The PiggySack stats: 21"h x 15 5/8"w, the shoulder straps are lightly padded and wide at 4.5".
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| My beautiful "Nate" PiggySack. |
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| The shoulder strap holes were a little small for this carrier. |
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I tied this MT using the apron tie method,
and it fit nicely. |
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The hood could barely be used on the biggest setting,
but it could work. |
Could not use the hood on the back. The Mei Zoo seemed to shorten the body of the carrier for whatever reason.
Next up is the Wrapstar. The Wrapstar is 22.5" long and 14.5" wide at the narrowest and 17 3/8" wide at the base. I wore the Wrapstar non-apron style.
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| Girly Front of the WSMT |
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| "Back" of the WSMT, and what we use as the front. |
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Couldn't get the hood up on a front carry.
Donut was being silly. |
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Again, couldn't use the hood for the back carry.
I think he was eating Cheerios. |
And for the third carrier, we tested out the Mai Zoo with the Kozy. The Kozy is my newest carrier, so it is still a bit stiff, but it worked really well with the Mai Zoo. The Kozy is 22" long and 17.25" wide. I rolled it up once to about 19" long and tied apron style.
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| The Kozy Carrier. Longwood Print. (Longwood is my Alma Mater by the way.) |
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| Being sweet! |
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| Hood worked well for the front carry. |
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Couldn't use the hood on the back again...
Not sure what is up with that... |
For the last Mei Tai, I tried it out with my Boutique Bella Bambini Wrap Conversion Mei Tai. The BBB WCMT is 22" long and 14" wide at the narrowest and 17 5/8" at the base. I wore it non-apron style and I also put the Mai Zoo on with the waist already folded, if that makes sense.
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| Love my BBB WCMT with hybrid waist! |
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| Added the Mai Zoo with the waist already folded. |
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| Front Carry. |
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| The hood almost works. |
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Back carry, again hood was a no-go.
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Lastly, a SSC (soft structured carrier), the Kinderpack. It is a "standard" size and measures 17" long, 23" long from the base, and 13.5" wide, but that is not counting the seat darts; it is about 16" wide when including the seat darts.
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| Hooty Hoot Kinderpack |
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| Silly Donut! |
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| Hood works! |
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| Back carry, but still couldn't get the hood up. |
I was surprised at how well it worked with the Kinderpack!
Final thoughts and suggestions: I am thinking that with the softer, less structured Mei Tais that the body of the Mai Zoo just didn't have the structure it needed to get the best seat and to fully extend. I felt it almost made the body of the carrier seem shorter even though the Mai Zoo in theory was long enough. A possible suggestion would be to make it longer, but have snaps on the side to have the option to shorten the actual body of the Mai Zoo. I am still not completely sure why the hood could be used on the front but not on back carries. I did have help from DH, and while there was lots of ups and downs from the carriers and not the best job done each time; I would hope that wouldn't completely affect the Mai Zoo's hood.
I would also like to see it have an option to be able to use it with carries like the Boba where the shoulder straps do not detach from the carrier. Maybe velcro for the shoulder strap holes.
While this may defeat the "Zoo" in Mai Zoo, I could also see a market for neutral Mai Zoos as well. Though I am partial to the frog ;)!
And last but certainly not least, the additional of the fleece Mai Zoo did help to insulate and keep us warmer. Yay!
